Super Metroid Nature

[Jiffy]

SUPER METROID NATURE

By Jefe962

Summary:

Super Metroid Nature is a full-sized hack of the popular game Super Metroid. The design of the world, palettes, enemies and atmosphere is entirely different to the original story of Zebes.
The difficulty will resemble that of the original, but a tad harder in sections.

Media:

[spoiler]




[/spoiler]

[spoiler]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WUt86fLU-o[/spoiler]

[spoiler]https://youtu.be/_0J6QByBVW8[/spoiler]

Credits:

[spoiler]Digital Mantra: Testing, main man for bugs
TheAnonymousUser: Testing, main man for help! Thank you!
Lenophis: Testing
RealRed: Testing
Smiley: Thanks for being a sport with Geiger's debugger!
JAM: Patches
Black_Falcon: Patches
[/spoiler]

-

I'm really, really, sorry, but Nature is unfinished.
Now for the reason why this is being released unfinished.
In short, recent events are grinding all of my hacks to a halt entirely. Basically I'm moving to another house, and the new house's rooms are really small. I barely have space for a bed, let alone a computer, so no hacking nor gaming can be done at all. Even if I would have the opportunity to use Bro's computer, it would not be enough to finish this hack at this moment in time.
I move April 28th. This is why I'm uploading the hack now, so I can patch anything that's wrong with it, within the next week.
However, I may pick up the hack again if I come to a stable position with my life. This might be in a few years, or in a few decades, if the community lasts this long.
Again, my largest apologies, but Nature is unfinished. The hack can be played up to the Wrecked Ship, and no more can be done from there.

Because of such a sad ending, it may be my last contribution to this community. There's nothing else I can do after April 28th, hacking wise. But I shall still have a phone, so I'll be able to watch people play things, and watch people complain about bugs that will never be fixed!
However, on that note, it's been fun. Jiffy out.

After a long while, and after moving, doing exams, spending the best summer of my life with my girlfriend, and then settling into college, I think I'm ready to announce I'm working on Nature again. In fact, I've already done some work via my stream (smashcast.tv/JiffyStreams) if anybody wants to watch. I shall be doing some Nature work on Saturday at 6:00pm UTC, so be sure to tune in!
To beta testers in the spoiler: Let me know if you can still beta test. Shoot me a PM or message me on Discord to tell me you're active.
To players: Don't worry if you've spoiled yourself by playing. Things are going to be altered - I'm continuing my plans for areas for more items and better gameplay throughout, based on feedback. Also the link to the patch is down, so I recommend deleting it (unless you're a beta tester. You can keep it.)
To everyone else: Get ready. Nature is coming home.

Also, some progress I might as well share:

[Quietus]

Perhaps you can keep an eye and ear open round here? You never know when things might change, and you may be presented with an opportunity to dive in again.

Good luck with the move! :^_^:

[andlabs]

How completable is "unfinished" in this case? Zebes-asleep atmosphere is interesting so far, as does the fact activated old Tourian still looks destroyed.

[spoiler=Moving situation]Not to be rude, but it sounds like your family is stuffing you in the closet? :( Hopefully this is only a temporary stop. Good luck.[/spoiler]

[UDtheAesir]

Great hack! Loving the little explosions when your beams hit enemies. The underwater section of Crateria, digging the color scheme there, real sexy stuff! Just wish the metal doors would unlock, would love to get into those unexplored sections. Hopefully your moving situation works out to the point where you can resume work on this great hack.

[TheAnonymousUser]

Great hack! Loving the little explosions when your beams hit enemies. The underwater section of Crateria, digging the color scheme there, real sexy stuff! Just wish the metal doors would unlock, would love to get into those unexplored sections. Hopefully your moving situation works out to the point where you can resume work on this great hack.

Considering the hack is unfinished (and will be for a while), there will be a lot of grey doors that don't unlock (in fact, a lot of the doors are just painted on, and don't lead anywhere)

I will point out that yes, there is a door leading to the upper half of wrecked ship that leads to a corrupted room. I've let jiffy know about this.
Also, for anyone using zsnes (inb4 lol hur lookit this feg using zsnes :colonrightv:) can anyone else check if certain room transitions (one being the transitions to the etecoon room nop. The bottom left most room in brinstar) load garbage instead of the actual room? This only seems to be a problem in zsnes 151, as the rooms load fine in snes9x.

[Steel Sparkle]

hope you can get things sorted out soon Jefe and finish this hack.

[andlabs]

Also, for anyone using zsnes (inb4 lol hur lookit this feg using zsnes :colonrightv:) can anyone else check if certain room transitions (one being the transitions to the etecoon room nop. The bottom left most room in brinstar) load garbage instead of the actual room? This only seems to be a problem in zsnes 151, as the rooms load fine in snes9x.

Happens in bsnes too (I use v080). (In addition, if you go the upper way, you'll also get corruption, but the scroll for the room right before it should have broken as well.) snes9x works fine, up to that Wrecked Ship door, which is still broken. :/ Also the Wrecked Ship map is broken (it starts out with some spaces filled, and the minimap acts as if you visited the Map Station but the pause screen does not).

Also is it just me or do some of the item dots, particularly in Norfair and the Wrecked Ship, not have any items at all? And is there no item on the platform in Pink Brinstar that you need to Speed Boost across (on the other end of the hallway leading up to the first Reserve Tank)?

Is there no way to get the Power Bomb hanging out in the room before Spped Booster?

When getting the Speed Booster, randomly I get spit out in the empty state of that room in the previous question after leaving the item room, and sometimes I get a rising-lava version with blocks on the ground. Bug? Will it make something permanently unobtainable?

[TheAnonymousUser]

Also is it just me or do some of the item dots, particularly in Norfair and the Wrecked Ship, not have any items at all? And is there no item on the platform in Pink Brinstar that you need to Speed Boost across (on the other end of the hallway leading up to the first Reserve Tank)?

Looking in smile, it seems varia and that pink sb super both share the same index. Anywhere else, afaik, are map tiling errors, as opposed to an indexing error.

Is there no way to get the Power Bomb hanging out in the room before Spped Booster?

When getting the Speed Booster, randomly I get spit out in the empty state of that room in the previous question after leaving the item room, and sometimes I get a rising-lava version with blocks on the ground. Bug? Will it make something permanently unobtainable?

[spoiler=le pb spoiler]The intended way to get the speed escape pb is after you've completed the escape. The debris blocking the pb becomes pb blocks.[/spoiler]
However, the event doesn't seem to be doing what it should for me (again, at least in zsnes. I'll try a casual run in snes9x later), casual play never triggered the event, whilst debugging in smile yielded no problems.

[Digital_Mantra]

"However, I may pick up the hack again if I come to a stable position with my life. This might be in a few years, or in a few decades, if the community lasts this long."

A few years? A few decades?? You shouldn't be so self defeating, stability will come much sooner then that.  :nod:
Also I'd like to hope this community will still be around that long.

[Jiffy]

Thanks T-A-U! You've been a good help.
Patch has been added to the main post as final V2.

[spoiler=Nature final v2]Nature final v2
"This is why you never put 'final' on anything" edition

Changes:
- The wrecked ship attic is now accessible
- Fixed lower crateria's e-tank room (below bt)
- Fixed the door above spospo exit spitting you out a whole extra map tile.
- Changed the pink stalactite in upper spring ball room to bombable air (so the hanging tiles aren't suspended in mid-air, when the structure above it is destroyed)
- Lowered the platform leading to red brinstar. Also made the hanging pink tile of said platform bombable air
- Changed varia's index from 1f (pink brinstar sb super) to FE
- Fixed potential oob in ice room. Also removed the off-screen funes from the room
- Moved 2 ceiling zoomers before crocomire, so they won't immediately fall down
- Lowered a few platforms in purple norfair, the ripper in said room has also been lowered.
- Added a platform in pre speed booster room lower secret
- Lowered a platform in the lower speed booster escape (it was hidden from view and pretty easy to bonk, which was a bit of a troll move)
- Added a hidden missile in crateria sidehopper room (en route to green brinstar) (indexed FE)
- Updated the scroll pointer in ripper missile room above spospo supers (there wasn't enough scrolls for the room)
- Changed landing site spazer back to a super.
- Changed the green door leading to ocean to a yellow door
- The elevator yellow door leading from red brinstar to crateria ocean has been removed
- Changed spazer index from 67 (lower left brinstar e-tank) to FD
- Changed super missle in bubble maze from 67 (also brinstar e-tank) to FC
- Changed ocean missile from 02 (ki-hunter missile) to FB
- Changed the red elevator blue gate ceiling to shot/bomb blocks
- Added platforms to upper pre gravity room (in the event the player lacks a super to reach gravity, and can't escape)
- Corrected wrecked ship's basement plm pointer ('on' state was not set properly)
- Changed the power bomb blocks before crocomire to non respawnable
- Lots of minor graphical fixes

Still to solve:
- Room 79bc8 (lower left brinstar) is loaded as garbage in zsnes151 and (according to the thread) bsnes
- The speed booster escape: from one of my snes9x runs, it took me 2 tries to trigger the escape
- Shot puffs constantly spawning so long as the shot is in contact with electricity[/spoiler]

I'm not sure if/when those last few issues will still be solved. But if I ever get the opportunity, I may look into it myself (or someone else who can do things with Event PLMs).

[andlabs]

Glad to see these issues fixed, however...

[spoiler=Nature final v2]- Changed varia's index from 1f (pink brinstar sb super) to FE
- Added a hidden missile in crateria sidehopper room (en route to green brinstar) (indexed FE)
[/spoiler]

are you sure this is what you wanted to do? =P

[TheAnonymousUser]

[spoiler=Nature final v2]- Changed varia's index from 1f (pink brinstar sb super) to FE
- Added a hidden missile in crateria sidehopper room (en route to green brinstar) (indexed FE)
[/spoiler]

are you sure this is what you wanted to do? =P

I believe that's a typo. Looking in smile, varia's indexed as FF. Uh, whoops? You want to update the changelog on that one, jiffy?

[andlabs]

Ah, good to know. I'll try this new version out then! :D

EDIT: All right, we can now get slightly farther before another crash:



Entering this room in Crateria through the door shown causes the game to softlock as shown. Music still runs. Still snes9x (1.53, GTK+ version 82). snes9x provides a .oops file (which is a gzipped savestate); I can provide that if that helps.

[TheAnonymousUser]

Entering this room in Crateria through the door shown causes the game to softlock as shown. Music still runs. Still snes9x (1.53, GTK+ version 82). snes9x provides a .oops file (which is a gzipped savestate); I can provide that if that helps.

That happens to be my fault, not the emulator. Looking in hxd, a part of the room data was overwritten. The room's been repointed now (for those who want to know, that's 30F760 [E1F760])
Hopefully nothing else should have been overwritten (well smile reads the last few rooms fine. famous last words)

One more entry to the changelog I guess
- Repointed room 7A1D8 (Super missile ocean maze) from 30F750 [E1F750] to 30F760 [E1F760]

Edit 19/04/2018: Attachment removed, as per requested by Jiffy

[andlabs]

And that fixes it, thanks! Of course, there isn't much left after that, as the entrance to Maridia just says END (so that answers my first question). Oh well; this was fun while it lasted, and I really like what you did with the colors!

EDIT So after going back and collecting everything that I know about/could find, here are my item totals:

6 Energy Tanks
1 Reserve Tank
85 Missiles
23 Super Missiles
20 Power Bombs
Grappling Beam
Charge Beam
Ice Beam
Wave Beam
Spazer
Varia Suit
Gravity Suit
Morphing Ball
Bomb
Spring Ball
Hi-Jump Boots
Speed Booster

Did I miss anything?

[Retroo]

Sad to see this end, this already felt alot better than your other hack.

[DonnyDonovan]

Yeah this is a fun, easy hack.  I like it.  I'm close on the totals you list but I found neither spazer nor wave.  Where are they? 

[Jiffy]

Yeah this is a fun, easy hack.  I like it.  I'm close on the totals you list but I found neither spazer nor wave.  Where are they?

[spoiler]IIRC Wave is near speed booster and Spazer is in Brinstar[/spoiler]

[andlabs]

Yeah this is a fun, easy hack.  I like it.  I'm close on the totals you list but I found neither spazer nor wave.  Where are they?

[spoiler]IIRC Wave is near speed booster and Spazer is in Brinstar[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Right, to get to Wave Beam you'll need to have done the Speed Booster escape, so I'm guessing you either skipped the escape because of a glitch that prevents it from triggering some of the time or forgot to look after finishing it like I think I did :D If the escape didn't work for you, go back and try triggering it again I guess (by going back to the now-empty item room and leaving until it works)? It's a strange glitch and I'm wondering what causes it...[/spoiler]

[TheAnonymousUser]

[spoiler]Right, to get to Wave Beam you'll need to have done the Speed Booster escape, so I'm guessing you either skipped the escape because of a glitch that prevents it from triggering some of the time or forgot to look after finishing it like I think I did :D If the escape didn't work for you, go back and try triggering it again I guess (by going back to the now-empty item room and leaving until it works)? It's a strange glitch and I'm wondering what causes it...[/spoiler]

[spoiler]iirc, there's also some speed booster blocks in pre-speed booster escape to get wave (along with a super). There should be enough space in that room to build a spark. The escape trigger, however, I'm not really sure why it's being very selective.[/spoiler]

[andlabs]

What I'm wondering is if it is possible to trigger the Speed Booster escape after failing to trigger it once before, or if you're permanently locked out of it. My experience with the Item Randomizer would suggest the former (collecting Speed Booster before actually going into its room will still require you to escape it when going back out, though IIRC the segment that's *in* the item room itself won't trigger), but you never know with hacks (and it's possible the Item Randomizer has also modified this aspect of the ROM somehow, which is part of the reason why I asked on its issue tracker for a list of changes)...

[TheAnonymousUser]

What I'm wondering is if it is possible to trigger the Speed Booster escape after failing to trigger it once before, or if you're permanently locked out of it.

I was able to trigger the escape after a failed trigger first time 'round, so you shouldn't be permanantly locked out of speed booster escape (try re-entering speed booster room.) There's an event plm in speed booster's room (around the statue) that changes the state of the escape room, and that plm seems to be the problem here.
And I don't know enough about sm's innards (or event plms) to know why

[DonnyDonovan]

I got the room to the correct state and collected wave.  It's exactly where I thought it was on the map I just didn't know how to get up there.  Now I just need to search Brinstar and find spazer.  Still looking.  Once I find that I'll only be short an ammo upgrade or two and I'm probably not worried enough about that to keep playing. 

[Steel Sparkle]

Well i managed to get to the end room of this hack. It was quite fun. i really hope Jefe can come back and finish this.

[Jiffy]

It's a bit of a necrobump,  but read the first post. It's good news. :D